U.S. patent number 10,332,126 [Application Number 13/362,014] was granted by the patent office on 2019-06-25 for method and apparatus for in-vehicle consumer information gathering.
This patent grant is currently assigned to FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC. The grantee listed for this patent is Oleg Yurievitch Gusikhin, Erica Klampfl, Yimin Liu, Perry Robinson MacNeille, Joe Phillip Pierucci. Invention is credited to Oleg Yurievitch Gusikhin, Erica Klampfl, Yimin Liu, Perry Robinson MacNeille, Joe Phillip Pierucci.
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United States Patent |
10,332,126 |
Liu , et al. |
June 25, 2019 |
Method and apparatus for in-vehicle consumer information
gathering
Abstract
A computer implemented method includes receiving vehicle
location information. The method also includes delivering a survey
to one or more vehicle occupants, over a vehicle audio system, the
survey related to a business having some correlation to the
location information. Further, the method includes collecting
survey results. Also, the method includes relaying the survey
results to a remote server for processing. The method additionally
includes providing a digital reward to the one or more occupants
participating in the survey.
Inventors: |
Liu; Yimin (Ann Arbor, MI),
MacNeille; Perry Robinson (Lathrup Village, MI), Pierucci;
Joe Phillip (West Bloomfield, MI), Gusikhin; Oleg
Yurievitch (West Bloomfield, MI), Klampfl; Erica
(Canton, MI) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Liu; Yimin
MacNeille; Perry Robinson
Pierucci; Joe Phillip
Gusikhin; Oleg Yurievitch
Klampfl; Erica |
Ann Arbor
Lathrup Village
West Bloomfield
West Bloomfield
Canton |
MI
MI
MI
MI
MI |
US
US
US
US
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
(Dearborn, MI)
|
Family
ID: |
48783931 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/362,014 |
Filed: |
January 31, 2012 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20130197973 A1 |
Aug 1, 2013 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q
30/02 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06Q
30/02 (20120101) |
Field of
Search: |
;705/7.11-7.42 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Bullo, F., E. Frazzoli, M. Pavone, K. Savla, and S. L. Smith.
"Dynamic Vehicle Routing for Robotic Systems." Proceedings of the
IEEE 99, No. 9 (Sep. 2011): 1482-1504. (Year: 2011). cited by
examiner .
Ford Motor Company, "SYNC with Navigation System," Owner's Guide
Supplement, SYNC System Version 1 (Jul. 2007). cited by applicant
.
Ford Motor Company, "SYNC," Owners's Guide Supplement, SYNC System
Version 1 (Nov. 2007). cited by applicant .
Ford Motor Company, "SYNC with Navigation System," Owner's Guide
Supplement, SYNC System Version 2 (Oct. 2008). cited by applicant
.
Ford Motor Company, "SYNC," Owner's Guide Supplement, SYNC System
Version 2 (Oct. 2008). cited by applicant .
Ford Motor Company, "SYNC with Navigation System," Owner's Guide
Supplement, SYNC System Version 3 (Jul. 2009). cited by applicant
.
Ford Motor Company, "SYNC," Owner's Guide Supplement, SYNC System
Version 3 (Aug. 2009). cited by applicant .
Kermit Whitfield, "A hitchhiker's guide to the telematics
ecosystem," Automotive Design & Production, Oct. 2003,
http://findarticles.com, pp. 103. cited by applicant.
|
Primary Examiner: Misiaszek; Amber A
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Lollo; Frank Brooks Kushman PC
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A computer implemented method comprising: receiving vehicle
destination input; determining a business located at the
destination; selecting and delivering a survey, related to the
business, to a vehicle occupant over a vehicle audio system while
the user travels to the destination; collecting survey results from
the vehicle occupant using a vehicle-based input; relaying the
survey results to a remote server for processing; and providing a
digital reward to a participating occupant.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving further includes
receiving driver demographic information, and wherein the selecting
is further based at least in part on the demographic
information.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination includes GPS
coordinates and the business located within a predefined distance
of the GPS coordinates.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital reward is an
electronically transferred coupon.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital reward is sent as a
coupon embedded in a text message.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises
selecting a survey having an associated projected completion time
of less than an estimated time remaining to the destination.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises
selecting a plurality of surveys and wherein the delivering further
comprises: presenting a selectable list of the plurality of surveys
on a vehicle interface; and delivering a selected one of the
plurality of surveys over the vehicle audio system.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The illustrative embodiments generally relate to methods and
apparatuses for in-vehicle consumer information gathering.
BACKGROUND
Vehicle infotainment and information systems make the
bi-directional transmission of information between a vehicle and a
remote server a realistic possibility in many of the modern
vehicles on the road. Internet feeds, live radio, songs, movies and
other data can all be streamed to a vehicle in real time. Vehicle
computing systems can use established internet connections to
obtain data from remote sources, and to communicate vehicle-related
data to those remote sources for inclusion in remote application
processing.
Since an average driver may spend over an hour per day in their
vehicle, the ability to obtain interesting content for vehicle
delivery can help pass the time. In addition, navigation and
vehicle system controls can be optimized using cloud based
resources, to improve the driving experience.
Vehicle information and infotainment systems also have the ability
to deliver custom advertisements/surveys to users based on known
user preferences. The advertisements/surveys can relate to common
shopping stops for a user, to local businesses, or to items the
user has indicated or shown a previous preference for
purchasing/considering.
SUMMARY
In a first illustrative embodiment, a computer implemented method
includes receiving vehicle location information. The method also
includes delivering a survey to one or more vehicle occupants, over
a vehicle audio system, the survey related to a business having
some correlation to the location information and also related to
drivers' information. Further, the method includes collecting
survey results.
Also, the illustrative method includes relaying the survey results
to a remote server for processing. The illustrative method
additionally includes providing a digital reward to the one or more
occupants participating in the survey.
In a second illustrative embodiment, a computer implemented method
includes receiving vehicle route information. The method further
includes offering a survey to a vehicle occupant. Also, the method
includes, upon election to complete a survey by an occupant,
calculating an amount of time remaining in a vehicle route. The
method additionally includes selecting a survey having an estimated
taking time less than the amount of time remaining in the vehicle
route or selecting a survey related to occupants' just
finished-shopping experiences in the route. Further, the method
includes delivering the selected survey to one or more vehicle
occupants, over a vehicle audio system.
In a third illustrative embodiment, a computer implemented method
includes detecting achievement of a vehicle metric condition. The
method also includes providing a survey relating to a driver's
satisfaction with some aspect of the vehicle. Further, the method
includes collecting survey results. The method additionally
includes delivering the survey results to a remote server for
processing and providing a reward for completion of the survey.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a vehicle computing
system;
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of a survey initiation
process;
FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example of a survey delivery
process;
FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of a survey selection process;
and
FIG. 5 shows a second illustrative example of a survey selection
process.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are
disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the
disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that
may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are
not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or
minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore,
specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not
to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis
for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present
invention.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example block topology for a vehicle based
computing system 1 (VCS) for a vehicle 31. An example of such a
vehicle-based computing system 1 is the SYNC system manufactured by
THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY. A vehicle enabled with a vehicle-based
computing system may contain a visual front end interface 4 located
in the vehicle. The user may also be able to interact with the
interface if it is provided, for example, with a touch sensitive
screen. In another illustrative embodiment, the interaction occurs
through, button presses, spoken dialog system with automatic speech
recognition and speech synthesis.
In the illustrative embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1, a processor 3
controls at least some portion of the operation of the
vehicle-based computing system. Provided within the vehicle, the
processor allows onboard processing of commands and routines.
Further, the processor is connected to both non-persistent 5 and
persistent storage 7. In this illustrative embodiment, the
non-persistent storage is random access memory (RAM) and the
persistent storage is a hard disk drive (HDD) or flash memory.
The processor is also provided with a number of different inputs
allowing the user to interface with the processor. In this
illustrative embodiment, a microphone 29, an auxiliary input 25
(for input 33), a USB input 23, a GPS input 24 and a BLUETOOTH
input 15 are all provided. An input selector 51 is also provided,
to allow a user to swap between various inputs. Input to both the
microphone and the auxiliary connector is converted from analog to
digital by a converter 27 before being passed to the processor.
Although not shown, numerous of the vehicle components and
auxiliary components in communication with the VCS may use a
vehicle network (such as, but not limited to, a CAN bus) to pass
data to and from the VCS (or components thereof).
Outputs to the system can include, but are not limited to, a visual
display 4 and a speaker 13 or stereo system output. The speaker is
connected to an amplifier 11 and receives its signal from the
processor 3 through a digital-to-analog converter 9. Output can
also be made to a remote BLUETOOTH device such as PND 54 or a USB
device such as vehicle navigation device 60 along the
bi-directional data streams shown at 19 and 21 respectively.
In one illustrative embodiment, the system 1 uses the BLUETOOTH
transceiver 15 to communicate 17 with a user's nomadic device 53
(e.g., cell phone, smart phone, PDA, or any other device having
wireless remote network connectivity). The nomadic device can then
be used to communicate 59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle 31
through, for example, communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. In
some embodiments, tower 57 may be a WiFi access point.
Exemplary communication between the nomadic device and the
BLUETOOTH transceiver is represented by signal 14.
Pairing a nomadic device 53 and the BLUETOOTH transceiver 15 can be
instructed through a button 52 or similar input. Accordingly, the
CPU is instructed that the onboard BLUETOOTH transceiver will be
paired with a BLUETOOTH transceiver in a nomadic device.
Data may be communicated between CPU 3 and network 61 utilizing,
for example, a data-plan, data over voice, or DTMF tones associated
with nomadic device 53. Alternatively, it may be desirable to
include an onboard modem 63 having antenna 18 in order to
communicate 16 data between CPU 3 and network 61 over the voice
band. The nomadic device 53 can then be used to communicate 59 with
a network 61 outside the vehicle 31 through, for example,
communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. In some embodiments, the
modem 63 may establish communication 20 with the tower 57 for
communicating with network 61. As a non-limiting example, modem 63
may be a USB cellular modem and communication 20 may be cellular
communication.
In one illustrative embodiment, the processor is provided with an
operating system including an API to communicate with modem
application software. The modem application software may access an
embedded module or firmware on the BLUETOOTH transceiver to
complete wireless communication with a remote BLUETOOTH transceiver
(such as that found in a nomadic device). Bluetooth is a subset of
the IEEE 802 PAN (personal area network) protocols. IEEE 802 LAN
(local area network) protocols include WiFi and have considerable
cross-functionality with IEEE 802 PAN. Both are suitable for
wireless communication within a vehicle. Another communication
means that can be used in this realm is free-space optical
communication (such as IrDA) and non-standardized consumer IR
protocols.
In another embodiment, nomadic device 53 includes a modem for voice
band or broadband data communication. In the data-over-voice
embodiment, a technique known as frequency division multiplexing
may be implemented when the owner of the nomadic device can talk
over the device while data is being transferred. At other times,
when the owner is not using the device, the data transfer can use
the whole bandwidth (300 Hz to 3.4 kHz in one example). While
frequency division multiplexing may be common for analog cellular
communication between the vehicle and the internet, and is still
used, it has been largely replaced by hybrids of Code Domain
Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Domain Multiple Access (TDMA),
Space-Domain Multiple Access (SDMA) for digital cellular
communication. These are all ITU IMT-2000 (3G) compliant standards
and offer data rates up to 2 mbs for stationary or walking users
and 385 kbs for users in a moving vehicle. 3G standards are now
being replaced by IMT-Advanced (4G) which offers 100 mbs for users
in a vehicle and 1 gbs for stationary users. If the user has a
data-plan associated with the nomadic device, it is possible that
the data-plan allows for broad-band transmission and the system
could use a much wider bandwidth (speeding up data transfer). In
still another embodiment, nomadic device 53 is replaced with a
cellular communication device (not shown) that is installed to
vehicle 31. In yet another embodiment, the ND 53 may be a wireless
local area network (LAN) device capable of communication over, for
example (and without limitation), an 802.11 g network (i.e., WiFi)
or a WiMax network.
In one embodiment, incoming data can be passed through the nomadic
device via a data-over-voice or data-plan, through the onboard
BLUETOOTH transceiver and into the vehicle's internal processor 3.
In the case of certain temporary data, for example, the data can be
stored on the HDD or other storage media 7 until such time as the
data is no longer needed.
Additional sources that may interface with the vehicle include a
personal navigation device 54, having, for example, a USB
connection 56 and/or an antenna 58, a vehicle navigation device 60
having a USB 62 or other connection, an onboard GPS device 24, or
remote navigation system (not shown) having connectivity to network
61. USB is one of a class of serial networking protocols. IEEE 1394
(firewire), EIA (Electronics Industry Association) serial
protocols, IEEE 1284 (Centronics Port), S/PDIF (Sony/Philips
Digital Interconnect Format) and USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum)
form the backbone of the device-device serial standards. Most of
the protocols can be implemented for either electrical or optical
communication.
Further, the CPU could be in communication with a variety of other
auxiliary devices 65. These devices can be connected through a
wireless 67 or wired 69 connection. Auxiliary device 65 may
include, but are not limited to, personal media players, wireless
health devices, portable computers, and the like.
Also, or alternatively, the CPU could be connected to a vehicle
based wireless router 73, using for example a WiFi 71 transceiver.
This could allow the CPU to connect to remote networks in range of
the local router 73.
In addition to having exemplary processes executed by a vehicle
computing system located in a vehicle, in certain embodiments, the
exemplary processes may be executed by a computing system in
communication with a vehicle computing system. Such a system may
include, but is not limited to, a wireless device (e.g., and
without limitation, a mobile phone) or a remote computing system
(e.g., and without limitation, a server) connected through the
wireless device. Collectively, such systems may be referred to as
vehicle associated computing systems (VACS). In certain embodiments
particular components of the VACS may perform particular portions
of a process depending on the particular implementation of the
system. By way of example and not limitation, if a process has a
step of sending or receiving information with a paired wireless
device, then it is likely that the wireless device is not
performing the process, since the wireless device would not "send
and receive" information with itself. One of ordinary skill in the
art will understand when it is inappropriate to apply a particular
VACS to a given solution. In all solutions, it is contemplated that
at least the vehicle computing system (VCS) located within the
vehicle itself is capable of performing the exemplary
processes.
In addition to providing media and advertisements in accordance
with user preferences, another opportunity exists to provide users
with targeted marketing surveys. Since people often have a great
deal of "spare" time while driving, driving time can be used to
verbally respond to survey questions, so the surveys will have high
finishing rate that paper surveys or on-line surveys. While it may
be possible to take paper surveys or online surveys, in other
circumstances, in the vehicle surveys can be related to a known
vehicle occupant or even related to a business in proximity to the
vehicle or drivers just experienced.
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of a survey initiation
process. In this illustrative example, a survey is presented to the
driver 201. The survey can be downloaded to the vehicle for
completion and return to a remote system, or the survey can be
processed, for example, one question at a time.
Because there is a possibility that a driver may need to focus on
driving, the survey can be temporarily suspended, or even cancelled
if needed. Although not shown, the driver could be given a physical
or verbal control that allowed pausing or cancelling the survey or
taking the survey later. Also, in this embodiment, the process
itself checks ongoing driver distraction monitoring 203. Driver
distraction monitoring can track, among other things, speed
changes, steering wheel reversals, cellphone use, traffic patterns,
erratic driving behavior and other indicators that a driver may
need to focus more carefully on the road and that focusing on a
survey may not be completely safe. Accordingly, if a driver
distraction level is above a certain threshold 205 the process may
suspend the survey 207 until a time when the distraction level has
fallen to an acceptable point. Rather than asking the driver if
they were distracted during the survey, this and other questions
such as "what is your pulse rate" could be measured by SYNC and
automatically returned with each answer on the survey.
Once the driver distraction level has fallen back below a certain
point, or as long as it does not cross a threshold distraction
level, the survey continues 209.
FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example of a survey delivery process.
In this illustrative example, a driver may be able to take a survey
associated with an advertisement, a product or company that has
just run an advertisement played to the driver. A survey may also
be associated with a navigation route segment for example, "how do
you like our city", or, "are you bothered by the pollution", or
"how did you like the McDonalds", or "was the service good at our
gas station". The survey could provide, as a reward, a coupon or
discount for the product, or some other incentive for the driver to
take the survey. Since the driver will be listening to a multitude
of advertisements while driving, this will allow marketers to focus
on specific needs and wants of particular customers. Additionally,
since the audience is a captive one, with little else to do other
than drive to a destination, there should be a higher incidence of
opting in to a survey.
For example, without limitation, a McDonald's advertisement
advertising breakfast could be played. The driver could elect to
take a brief survey following the advertisement, wherein the driver
is asked questions relating to McDonald's breakfast preferences.
The driver could then be given a digital coupon for McDonald's, and
directed to the nearest McDonald's along a given route, where the
coupon can be redeemed.
In the example shown in FIG. 3, the process first plays an
advertisement for a product or company 301. In at least one
instance, an advertisement has one or more surveys associated
therewith. The survey could be a generic survey, relating generally
to the product/company, or it could be a survey specifically about
a given product or company, or the customer's reaction to the
advertisement
If there is a survey associated with the advertisement 303, the
process checks to see if a driver has opted into surveys in general
305 and selects an appropriate survey for the vehicle occupant
taking the survey based on occupant profile and advertiser
preference. Surveys may be queued in a first in first out queue
with event triggering. For example, if the surveyor wishes to do a
survey on an ad an hour or a day after the vehicle occupant(s)
heard the ad, this can be handled by queuing the ad while the
occupants use the system for other purposes. Also, if the
infotainment system is busy conducting a survey, and other surveys
arrive they may be queued. Since some vehicle users may not wish to
take surveys while driving, in this embodiment there is an opt-in
provision wherein the vehicle user sets a system to allow delivery
of some or all surveys. If the driver or another occupant has opted
in and decided to receive surveys, the process will provide data
relating to the survey, including, for example, without limitation,
survey duration, a possible reward, etc. 307. Once the user has
seen the possible reward, duration, etc., the user can elect
whether or not to participate in the survey 309.
If the user elects to participate, the process will present the
survey, as shown in exemplary, non-limiting fashion in FIG. 2. Once
the survey has been completed or ended in a satisfactory manner,
the process can then report the results 311 to a remote server for
processing and delivery to appropriate end sources. The process can
also delivery a reward to the driver 313, and results of the survey
can be added to the driver's profile for screening future
advertisements.
In one example, the reward may be an instantly redeemable coupon or
credit towards a purchase or merchant. In other examples, the
reward could be a credit to a user account, a vehicle related
reward, the continuation or free play of downloaded media, etc.
For example, automotive companies such as FORD spend millions
surveying customers on post-purchase satisfaction with vehicles. By
implementing an embodiment of the present invention, an automotive
manufacturer could know, for example, exactly when a vehicle had
been driven for a month, for 10,000 miles, had been just purchased,
etc. In each relevant instance, brief surveys about customer
service experiences or quality satisfaction (things-go-wrong (TGW))
could be given to the driver. In exchange for responding, suitable
reward could be provided (discount on dealer services, extra 1,000
miles on a warranty, extension of premium in-vehicle services,
etc.).
In another example, streaming music services, such as PANDORA,
provide real time streamed music to portable devices and in-vehicle
audio systems. Advertising included with the music delivery is
often used to offset the cost of providing the music. Instead of
listening to advertisements, however, a user might instead wish to
respond to a survey and receive some uninterrupted period of music
in exchange for responding.
FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of a survey selection process.
In this illustrative example, the process for survey selection and
delivery can choose surveys that may be situationally relevant for
a particular user. For example, the user could be traveling to a
specific business, or could be traveling past specific businesses,
for which one or more surveys is available. In such a case,
providing surveys about the destination or proximate businesses
could both provide the user with a reminder to shop there and
provide the user with a coupon that was immediately useful.
To make reward coupons resulting from surveys immediately usable,
the coupon could be sent to a smart phone or other wireless device
via email or text messaging. Then, when the user makes a purchase,
the digital coupon could be scanned directly from the device and
redeemed on the spot.
FIG. 5 shows a second illustrative example of a survey selection
process. In this non-limiting example, the process first receives a
vehicle location, route, destination, etc. Generally, at least some
data relating to the vehicle's geo-position is obtained 401. Once
the appropriate data has been received, the data is analyzed to
determine what businesses are proximate to a current location or
along a route 403.
In one example, a destination address could be received and the
process could determine (through address correlation), the
particular business or businesses located at the destination. A
user could even be presented with a list of possible businesses at
the destination for which surveys and corresponding
credits/discounts are available.
In another example, the process may examine businesses along a
route, and present the user with a list of surveys available for
businesses along the route. The business data could also be cross
referenced with context data (time of day, weather, vehicle/driver
needs, etc.) to determine if a particular survey would be
advantageous for a particular driver. For example, a driver may
have previously entered items of interest or responded to a
particular survey in the past. If a store which the driver prefers,
or which sells a desired item of interest is nearby a route or
destination, the driver could be provided with a survey relating to
that store, a reward coupon for the store, and directions to the
store.
If there are any corresponding or relevant surveys, the process
continues on to check if the driver or another occupant has opted
in for survey participation 407. In this example, if the driver has
opted in for survey participation, a list of recommended and/or
relevant businesses is provided so a user can select a
business/product for which a survey should be taken. In this
example, only the businesses for which a survey exists are
provided, so that the information on available surveys is apparent
from viewing the list. In another example, all businesses could be
provided, and repeated selection of a business for which a survey
did not exist could be recorded and thus incentivize that business
to utilize the survey providing option.
The driver is asked to select a particular survey that the driver
would like to participate in completing 411. If no survey is
selected 413 or the operation is cancelled, it is assumed that the
driver does not want to complete any of the available surveys at
that time. Otherwise, the driver is provided with a survey
corresponding to the selected business/product 415. Once completed,
the survey results are reported to a remote server 417 and any
relevant reward is provided to the driver 419.
FIG. 5 shows a second illustrative example of a survey selection
process. In this illustrative example, secondary considerations are
taken into account when selecting a survey. The survey may still be
route-dependent, or could just be a randomized survey or targeted
survey to a specific consumer segment (e.g. luxury vehicle buyers).
In addition to or alternatively to choosing a survey based on
location of the vehicle, however, a survey selection could be
limited based on an expected amount of time in a vehicle.
In this non-limiting example, the process receives a route plan
from the vehicle 501. In accordance with a preselected/determined
or random survey provision option, the process offers a survey to
the vehicle occupant 503. If the user agrees to take the survey
505, the process proceeds to checking the estimated duration of the
route 507. This could be based on the distance of the route, an
estimated speed, weather conditions, traffic conditions, etc.
Once the remaining travel time has been estimated, a survey having
less projected duration than the remaining travel time may be
provided 509. For example, a survey may have an associated amount
of time set as 15 minutes, meaning it is projected that the survey
requires 15 minutes to complete. If there were fewer than 15
minutes estimated remaining in a route, this survey may be
unsuitable for delivery, as it could be difficult to complete the
survey in time. Or, occupants can also always save un-finished
surveys for later.
If the user does not agree to taking a survey when asked 505, the
process determines if the user would like to take a survey at a
later time 511. For example, the user may be on a phone call or
otherwise briefly distracted, and so the option to delay taking the
survey could be provided. If the user elects to take a survey at a
later time, the survey process could be suspended 513 until
selected by the user 517. The user, for example, could be given a
digital button 515 or verbal command usable to resume the
survey.
Once the survey has been resumed, the process could select a survey
of adequate but not excessive duration, again based on estimated
travel time 507.
While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended
that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the
invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of
description rather than limitation, and it is understood that
various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and
scope of the invention. Additionally, the features of various
implementing embodiments may be combined to form further
embodiments of the invention.
* * * * *
References